Monday, January 4, 2016

During a family visit, I wanted to teach them a new game -- actually one of my favorite party games -- called Tripoley. I searched all over my home looking for this game and realized that I didn't have it anymore.

Thus started my journey to find that game, I drove over to local stores and they didn't have any available. Okay, cool, I'll drive over to next town and see if the toy store has it... to no avail. Okay, let me try the next town over and drive to the bookstore and see if they have it at their board game area -- yet again, to no avail. I hit several stores searching for it and every time I struck out.

I returned home and searched again for anything remotely like this game. I finally found a plastic version, that was close enough.

We managed to play the game. The kids took awhile to learn it since they had never played Poker or Michigan Rummy, but soon after they were getting quite good at making poker faces. We had much fun.

After their visit ended, I thought of ordering the game online. I searched for it and found them but it was mostly retro board games and the quality of the game was "there". After talking with Ron, we felt that it was better to make our own version of this game. We have the skills, tools, and materials to make it. Ron took on the part of making the wood design and cutting while I focused on making the inlay design, painting, and assembling the final board. Here's our first prototype:

We spent days talking about ways to improve it. To make it more special, more unique, and then we had an "aha" moment -- why not give it a more casino look?

Yeap, that's me hard at work making this lovely Tripoley handmade card board game. Of course, I do wear a mask when working with any type of adhesive. We take pride in the work we do. Here's the finished Tripoley card board game:

Do you see the kitty? Upon closer look you'll see that I'm a kitty lover... couldn't help myself.

Of course, that meant more work, but the end result is impressive. We wanted this design to last and look amazing in person. I posted two photos of it in Instagram. Here's one of them:

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Last day of the #BNMakerFaire Nationwide, we've had so much fun doing the Show and Tell. As part of the Central Texas Makers, we brought with us many of our homemade projects to this event and we're having so much fun.

Here's a picture or two:

This child is having so much fun play game on a Raspberry Pi tiny computer. Can you believe it, it has over 300 games of several different game console. Remember the Atari series, Game boy, Nintendo and much more.

Another example of how Raspberry Pi tiny computer is being used is the next photo:

We have a Raspberry Pi running the PiAware software. This uses a SDR (software defined radio) to pick up aircraft transponder information. With the PiAware software, you can see commercial aircraft in the area, with their real-time location and destination. The data get fed to the FlightAware website, which is then used to map flights across the world. One of the benefits of feeding data to FlightAware is that you receive an Enterprise license (which normally costs $90 a month) -- which you can use to get detailed flight data -- real time -- from around the world. If you are interested in aircraft, it's a very inexpensive way to get into flight tracking.

Another fun thing we did is the Electric Cigar Box Guitar... people loved playing with it:

Guest visiting the #BNMakerFaire today enjoyed playing the handmade electric cigar box guitar and many other cool and interesting #maker #project display by #CentralTexasMakers member Ron and Evelyn Nelson
Posted by Central Texas Makers on Saturday, November 7, 2015

It's our last day but it's gonna be awesome. Look forward to seeing y'ah. Happy Making Day.

When ever I get a chance to play with Pixzle, I upload my pixel art creations to Pixzle's facebook page according to which platform I used. For example, I made this lovely 8bit Cat art using the Pixzle Petite. I love this platform because I can either display it on my desk as a stand alone artwork or by adding the acrylic clear hanger, I can now display it in front of any window in my home. Just the ideal window artwork for any cat lover out there.

During the summer I had guest visiting, one afternoon they saw the Pixzle Play and asked what it's all about. After I explained that it's like making stain glass window art except you don't have to worry about cutting glass or using a hot soldering iron they loved it and gave it a try. Here's one of their design. They had an enjoyable afternoon. I had fun taking picture of them and their creations.

The Pixzle Play Pixel is a much larger platform measuring about 12" square with 3/4" pixel tiles. Perfect for very young children and ideal for senior citizens.

Finally there's the Pocket Pixzle, I love this version because it goes where ever I go. It's most popular with young adults and teens.

One story I heard from a fan who travels much that he loves to take the Pocket Pixzle with him into the airplane. After the airplane took off, he pulls out the Pocket Pixzle, opens the bag, takes out the clear acrylic base and little by little grabs a colored tile and places it into the clear acrylic base. He makes several designs and if there's an empty sit between him and other passenger, he'll leave the base with the tile on that sit and fall asleep. When he woke up and looked over he's artwork had been altered and a new one magically appeared. Pretty darn cool that a perfect stranger was enjoying this new creative platform.

I love robots and made this fella, he's one of my favorite character and I hope to inspires Pixzle fans to pixel their favorite characters, too.

When I'm at artisans/handmade market shows, I get lots of request or comments about characters people love which both inspires and challenges me to create them in 8Bit /Mosaic artwork but when I do succeed, I share them to help inspire you, too.Here's the

Monday, September 21, 2015

Life is full of unexpected events. Some of these events are chaotic while others are a welcomed breeze. What a roller coaster these past few months has been but the nice thing is that I'm finally getting closer to doing what I was doing when chaos broke.I'm grateful to have a larger shop and more space to work in. It was very difficult these past few month working every day knowing that my real creative work was on hold. No more. I'm getting excited to be returning to my creative works in my shop.Here's a glimpse of my shop:

I'm also excited because I'll be participating in for this year's 3rd Annual ATX Artisans Handmade Market in November. They have booths available for fellow Artisans. http://www.atxartisans.org/

I love this location since it's in one of the most popular areas of Austin Texas near the intersection of Burnet Rd & Anderson Lane at the Norris Conference Center. Lots of parking and stores and restaurants. Furthermore, Roman's Rescue will be hosting pet adoptions onsite during this event. Thus the next few weeks I will be preparing for it. I'll be working on the PIXZLE products and a new classic game. Soon I'll have photos of it. Remember to stop or pause for a moment and smell the lovely scents of roses.Looking forward to seeing y'ah once more. I'll have a demo table and maybe we'll be able to play a game during this events. #ATXartisans #PIXZLE #SybariteStudio #8bit #pixel #puzzle #tripoley #artisans #handmade #etsyshop #pixelart #Adultcoloring #supportlocal #retrogames #retro #art #games #MadeInUSA #AustinTexas #ATX

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

I take pride in what I do, I strive to do it well and I'm rewarded when I see others enjoying my work. One of my personal goals is to bring back the "USA made" to truly mean made in the USA. It's challenging but I'm a firm believer that we can do it. As I work and strive to provide top quality work, I'm grateful to you who made the choice to buy from me. Not only did you help me but you also helped all those who were involved in the creations of my work.

I thought about how my creations helped to improve people's lives. Not just those who are buying my creations but with their purchases are helping me to help many families earn a living. As I sit here humbled by the interactive links of life, I realized how much we trust people to do the right thing. How we take for granted the everyday things such as goods and services, maybe that's why I love watching "Dirty Jobs" with Mike Rowe. He brings to light all the unsung heroes. Yes, HEROES!!! That hero could very well be you, and if so, "THANK YOU!!!!"

Mr. Rowe, keep doing what you’re doing...bringing light to a world that at times seems to be in darkness. Thank you for creating Dirty Jobs and dedicating time to present an awareness of such opportunities to the masses.

Whenever I watch the news media it saddens me to see so much focus on the negativity and yet all along there is so much good happening all around us. We trust perfect strangers to do their job and do it well. If it weren't for their dedication, pride and integrity where would we be? Take a moment and think about it, really, where would we be?

This winter season share a smile or a hug, and say thank you to all those unsung heroes who works and makes our daily lives so livable.

We'll have at our booth the following: the Pixzle Petite Kits, Pocket Pixzle, Pixzle Play and Pixzle It! will be available. Join the fun, enter the giveaways and participate in the ATX Artisans's Silent Auction:

About Me

Welcome, I'm Evelyn Nelson creator of Sybarite Studio. It's my place to share my creations and services. I use mixed medium such
as wood, acrylic, crochet, paper, felt, electronics and
found object. Whenever possible I try to up-cycle materials and create unique work giving a second life to such materials.

There are time I combine art with electronics but it's the tools that help me to create.Some art pieces have LED lighting effects thus giving life to the it.

I enjoy trying new mediums and exploring the magical world of art and
creations.